We’ve won victory for public education -Nasir El-Rufai

Gov. Nasir el-RufaiGov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna said the state secured a major victory for public education by defeating an indefinite strike by the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), without recalling any of the sacked teachers.

It was his first public comment on the strike by NUT members, who were joined by the Nigerian Labour Congress.

And he quickly added that he will not dwell on the euphoria of removing the trade union obstacle to forge better standards in the education sector.

El-Rufai spoke Monday at a meeting with the 23 local government administrators and their education secretaries in Kaduna. He said the next phase of the struggle must be on implementing the education reforms,

The governor’s statement at the meeting was conveyed by Samuel Aruwan, spokesperson/SSA (Media and Publicity) to the Governor.

According to Aruwan, at the meeting, SUBEB reaffirmed plans for the first batch of new teachers to be appointed by February 2018.

“SUBEB informed the meeting that interviews for applicants who passed the recruitment test conducted on 20 December 2017 will commence on Wednesday, 24th January 2018. The interviews will be conducted across the 23 local government areas by panels comprising experienced personnel from the Teacher Development Programme and other professionals.

“The governor disclosed that the Education Reforms in the state require that a commitment to standards be sustained and new incentives provided for teachers. Among these incentives would be a new salary scale for teachers and provision of houses for teachers posted to rural schools.

“Malam El-Rufai observed that the difficulty in securing decent accommodation in rural areas has led to an over-concentration of teachers in urban centres. He said the Ministry of Education will provide designs for construction buildings with at least six flats for teachers and a bungalow for head-teachers in rural schools.

Aruwan reported that a law has been passed to establish the Quality Assurance Board to uphold standards in schools, while the Kaduna State University( KASU) has been directed to establish an Institute of Education to provide continuous training for teachers.

Governor El-Rufai further said that the current recruitment exercise will prioritise teachers of English, Mathematics and the Sciences.

“To expand the production of such teachers, the governor disclosed that the College of Education, Gidan-Waya will adjust its curriculum so that most of its products are trained in Primary Education Studies, Mathematics, English and the Sciences.

“The local government administrators and Education Secretaries commended Malam Nasir El-Rufai for the unwavering manner in which the Kaduna State Government is implementing its education reforms. They noted that the governor’s determined stance has defeated trade union power that was used improperly, and that teachers are now ready for a new phase.”